US Navy rail gun breaks record

[StarGateWorldsFan33]

Railgun, AKA MAC cannon from halo :D

[rulz492]

@StarGateWorldsFan33 Railgun != Coilgun

[SamTheDragon31]

This is what happens when I have blueballs.

[braneded75]

our tax dollars at work

[StedySniper]

You know your doing things right when you can light the air on fire without the use of an explosive

[FireRupee]

@StedySniper Yeah, before it's even detonated.

[mdk31]

Wow. That thing was going so fast it even caught the air on fire. That's sexy.

[JustBeachyGuy]

my god look at that lab.... the gun is ridiculous!!!

[MrVrsilvestrejr2008]

We can use Mach 8 RAIL Cannon on Space with RARE-Heavy Metals as bullets guided by laser beams and AI-Heat Sensor to shoot down ICBM and man-made satellites.

[joe735]

Needs a more stable projectile. Shits falling apart fast.

[Penniless4evr]

Christ... 2,520 meters = 8,267 feet. Holy shit, A little over a mile and a half per second.

[TomaSkTemplar]

if you know tank guns, then youd know that isnt really much more. That is when leaving the barrel, due to aerodynamics and other stuff its much less potent at longer ranges...

[mjolnirrecon54]

the armature is the thing that completes the electrical circuit between the rails, through which the perpendicular electrical flow to the magnetic field creates the propulsive force (same way electric motors work) the projectile that's fired rides on the armature down the rails and that's why there's a notch on the back of the "bullet." the reason we cant weaponize railguns yet is cause the armature destroys the rails very quickly as well as itself

[Suqatish]

This test fire is way way weaker than what they hope to achieve by 2016. Picture marine or army infantry never having to wait for arty or chopper support. Call in a fire mission from off shore and have it show up in a couple minutes flat.

[TheKillerAngel]

Why would this be "way weaker"? They were operating the thing at 1/3rd power.

[Suqatish]

They have not mastered the technology yet.

By 2016 they hope to achieve 17,000 feet per second.

[EnigmaHood]

He means this railgun is way weaker compared to railguns we will have in the future.

[BenHutchinson1]

Why is there smoke and fire coming off the back end of the projectile? I've seen other rail gun videos, and the only smoke comes from the actual capacitor discharge through the rails. And the only stuff following the projectile were a couple sparks. Was there some kind of flammable material attached to the back of the projectile on this one? Or was this video just a big fake and a hoax.

[228Ghost228]

fire is everywhere because the projectile is so fast that the air begins to burn because of the friction. i think

[anon32016]

Yup. The thing is moving at 3500 m/s, a conventional gunpowder-weapon fires at a maximum of 1200 m/s.

And then take into account that energy is (MV^2)/2, so a projectile (of the same mass) traveling at thrice the speed would have 8.5 times the energy.

Notice the blue friction-vapourized-tungsten-t­ail (XD) behind the projectile... Beautiful.

[ryanjabat88]

you have to take into account that there is a noticeable concentration of hydrogen in the atmosphere and if a projectile is moving fast enough through it, it can ignite it just by its passing, i.e. the re-entry of the space shuttle or a falling meteorite, there kinetic energy is so much that the very air itself catches fire that's what this weapons system is capable of doing. and yeah it pretty awesome to look at i have the photo as my screen saver...

[philritter21]

@ryanjabat88 Hydrogen has nothing to do with high speed objects or reentry.

[ameryllw]

Not to mention, the projectile is also heated by electrical resistance inside the gun itself as well.

[philritter21]

@anon32016 Im going to have to disagree with you two about the fire being caused by aerodynamic heating. Your math is correct (assuming a muzzle velocity of 3500, but it clearly states 2520 m/s), but even so, the fire is confined within the wake of the projectile. If this aerodynamic heating, it would be the blunt leading end of the projectile that heats up and causes fire. It appears to just be fire caused by the weapon itself caught and pulled within the low pressure wake of the projectile.

[adraincentra]

yeah.....too bad the 100.000 km/s record was broken by an unknown country

[frog45678]

thats why our military kicks ass

[Ujikaweapon1]

Yeah!  Go Navy technology.

[chopperhead2011]

No, just American military technology in general

[theworacle]

the fragments are from the aluminium armature which, I suppose, helps the projectile move down the barrel. They ignite as the projectile leaves the gun, causing the flame

[true2life4ever]

i agree with lbmuscle.the military will have something for years and then tell the public about it.like the sr71 blackbird.they had that plane for over 10years before the public knew about it.

[lbmuscle]

well im in the service and i know whats going on.and you need to grow a brain you fucking dick head!! im a fucking marine! you pussy. mr sypher474!!!

[Anarchyz0r]

fuck you, just state facts and we'll chose to believe you or disbelieve you, idiot

[USA1Army]

you definately have the marine mentality.

Go Army.

[Jason2444]

M.Y

A.ss

R.ides

I.n

N.avy

E.quipment

[chopperhead2011]

Go to hell, the USMC is the toughest branch of the military. The USMC is our nation's spearhead.

After all, we're all on the same team.

[RCTPatriot75]

@Jason2444

You all do make good chauffeurs.

[MyGamer1]

@Jason2444 no no no.

Muscles

Are

Required

Intelligence

None

Essential

[TheDoxy]

I think:

M:uscles

A:re

R:equired

I:ntelligence

N:ot

E:xpected

works a lot better in this particular situation

[228Ghost228]

xD perfect

[mindsoulbody]

Lol, good one!

[MonkehDave]

Scary... with that much kinetic energy, it doesn't even need an explosive warhead...

[lcclk]

This gun maybe needs to fire a ledpellet since its disintegrating

[lbmuscle]

the military had this gun for years.this is nothing new.just new to the public.they are using it now in the war

[Sypher474]

Are you fucking stupid?

This is one of the first tests that didn't MELT the entire gun.

Sure, they have had the technology, but not in an effective combat form. The capacitors are WAAY too bulky for combat, and so is the device itself.

They aren't planned to be mounted to ships until AFTER 2019. The aim by then is to be firing with 8X more power, at roughly 6 rounds per minute.

Grow a brain before posting something as stupid as 'they are using it now in the war'.

[lbmuscle]

nikola tesla invented this years and years ago.he worked for the navy and started the use of free energy.and was later killed because he didnt want to continue with the project.

[aliencrap]

You'd have to have LOS to the target with these. Or just shoot it through a mountain.

[jlvfr]

To anyone thinking kinetic energy guns have "little colateral damage": have you ever heard of meteors?! What do you think they are?!

Damage=amount of energy applied. Doesn't matter if it's chemical or kinetic. E=mc2 remember?

[modelbuilder365]

I agree but sorry to say E=mc^2 has nothing to do with this, there is not mass lost as there is is either fission or fusion.

[ameryllw]

The meteors comment is right on. The application of Einstein's famous formula... has nothing to do with it. The formula you're looking for is:

E = MV^2

That's the formula for the kinetic energy of a moving mass.

[bootiack]

nice, now a terrorist can hit something from 230 miles away without needing anything explosive

[illicitfilms]

This is just the begining silvershado, eventually it will be more practical for a large naval ship(with the rate of fire theworacle said)

the idea behind kinetic energy dealing less colateral damage is that you are not detonating anything, your applying %100 force onto the object that gets hit, allowing for minimal damage to the surrounding area(a big naval gun these days will destroy the target and more)

[ameryllw]

You can already see from this video what happens when a round with this much energy strikes a solid target.

The target explodes.

This is going to have just as much collateral damage as solid-shot (i.e. non-explosive rounds) weapons do, which already exist, and have existed since before the Age of Sail.

[StormRisingOriginal]

This not a collateral damage aware weapon program. The goal with rail guns is to hit a target with one shot that completely obliterates it.

[Silvershado]

this is going to consume a lot of energy for the lanuch. its not going to be very useful in very intense battle because its might take a lot of time to take aim otherwise it would be a waste..

[orlock20]

This is just a prototype. Since explosives are no longer a factor, the weapon can shoot smaller rounds with more force. The weapon itself can be smaller too, hence more weapons per ship. The power would come from the ship's power plant.

There are some problems with it where it won't work. Sinking a ship or boat is not the same as killing the crew. I don't think it will work on underwater subs either.

[Lemmiwinks26]

just think about getting hit in the face with that lol

[KSCIAA]

^^This.

[Beverkake]

@Lemmiwinks26 There wouldn't be a face left. Or a head for that matter. Actually, pretty much your whole upper body would be gone.

[theworacle]

The idea is to replace conventional guns on warships (around 2020-2024). An operational rail gun would fire 6-10 rounds per minute, the projectile travelling 200nm in 6min. It would destroy the target with kinetic energy, which supposedly would limit collateral damage.

[jgkloosterman]

@theworacle I think you need to check your numbers. Specifically 200nm. nm is nanometers. So 200nm in 6 minutes is 0.000000002 km/h which is ridiculously slow.

[camar123]

@jgkloosterman

Dude, dyor.

nm can also be nautical miles.

200 nautical miles in 6 minutes is very fast.

200 nm = 230.155 land miles

200nm/6 mins = 2301.55 mph = Mach 3

2520 mps = Mach 7.3

[deusprogrammer]

@theworacle 200 nano meters?

[camar123]

@deusprogrammer

nm can also be nautical miles aside from nanometers

[camar123]

@deusprogrammer

nm can also be nautical miles aside from nanometers

[harmono]

I don't see any practical application to this unless maybe they mounted this on a ship and they could aim it?

[hphan3000]

that's the idea, heavy artillery, gettin' rid of explosive powder

[Apolloin]

Potential Advantages of Technology:

1. Higher Velocity adds Kinetic Energy to damage

2. Higher Velocity means greater accuracy - target has less time to move plus flatter trajectory.

3. Lack of gunpowder means more ammo fits into the same space/tonnage.

4. Lack of gunpowder means that ammo is much safer - until fired!

In addition if the tech could be made small enough, it could be fitted on an airborne platform. Imagine a plane that could engage guns at 17K fps?